“I’ll be back at 0500. If you don’t hear from me in a couple hours, I’ve probably been eaten by a dragon.”
“Fine. If you don’t hear from me by then, it’s because I hope you were.”
— Part I/10

“Kristin, I swear, if I have to watch you try on shoes for an hour, I’m going to eat your boyfriend. With a fork.”
— Part I/19

Do you hear that whooshing noise? That’s my good intentions going out the window, don’t mind them if they rush past you. I wanted to wait until the trilogy was complete before I started this book even if I already had it on my shelf, because I know what the author will most likely do to me again ... two series have taught me that. But then I found out that there are going to be five books and there is no way that I was going to wait that long. So emotional roller coaster torture it is.
I really like Julie Kagawa’s kind of humour. It’s not always laughing out loud funny (though it can be that, too), but also surprised snort laughing. Kind of like what Ember does to Garret the first time they meet. I predict disastrous heartbreak with wrongful accusations and terrible misunderstandings. Maybe even a severe dose of triangularity. And don’t correct me, if I’m wrong. In that case, I’d like to be surprised.

Whom could you have eaten for breakfast lately? Alternatively tell me if you’re giving a series a head start before you catch up to it at the moment.

“There was so much I was trying not to say. I guess it was easier to talk about nothing than about how much I missed you.”
— Chapter 13

“I want to be able to stand in front of a room full of people and actually be able to say the thing I want to say,” she told him.
“And I want to be able to stand in front of just one person and say the thing I want to say.”
— Chapter 13

Confession: I have a dichotomous feeling about e-shorts. Sometimes I love them for expanding the world of a story I already love or want to dip into before committing to the whole series or to build a bridge between two main books. And then there are those that I’m torn about because they add to what I perceived to be the end. This is one from the second category. I loved the end of This Is What Happy Looks Like in the sense that it closed the story but was still open to interpretation. This addition tells me that after the end one thing happened which necessitated this addition. Don’t get me wrong, more Graham and Ellie is definitely not a bad thing, but I would have thought that things had played out differently than described in this short story. I can arrange with how it ends now, but I really hope that now they aren’t just happy again but also stay that way.

What are your feelings on e-shorts? One disadvantage it their restriction to a digital medium, but on the other hand they’re really suited for it and wouldn’t really work in print. Share your opinions and teasers in the comments!

I don’t like it when angels murmur in agreement. Nothing good ever comes of that.
— Chapter 33

Knowing about the horrors that have happened and will happen but choosing to live anyway. Maybe there’s an art to being human.
— Chapter 57

I was wrong ... but I was also right. As this is mildly confusing, let me elaborate a little: Back in 2012 I told myself that I would read no more angel books because I was so over them but that I’d make an exception if the book didn’t have a love story front and centre. Luckily, I excluded series I had already started ... yes, I like to hoodwink myself when it seems opportune. This series is very much a love story and a lot of things are very much driven by this love, but it is never sappy or the single driving force. More like a creeping vine and before you know it you’re completely entangled.
Most series make you wait about a year between books but this series started out as a wee indie and it has been a great pleasure to watch it build momentum and be picked up by a bigger publisher over the years even if the two year waits between the instalments were agonisingly long.
As implied in the name, this is the angel-apocalypse to end all angel-apocalypses, no further candidates need to apply. This series calls for a re-read now that all books are available and can be read back to back. As much fun as theorising between two books can be, there are details that are bound to get lost between book one and three if they are separated by almost four years. And to anyone who might not be satisfied by the end: The world in this series as we know it ended, there was an actual apocalypse. Don’t expect everything will magically go back to normal because the beauty of this is also in showing how the main character endures and tries to make the best of her situation no matter what. Now excuse me, I need to have a good wail over the fact that some things that were logical to happen were also heart-wrenching and beautiful in their perfect imperfection ... which is again mildly confusing but in this case you’ll need to read the series and the end to understand how this impression is achieved.

I’m usually a little sceptical when it comes to indie-published stories, but as the exception proves the rule I’m always open to suggestions. If you have recommendations for a book that has been overlooked by the major publishing houses please share them in the comments along with your teaser.

The more I thought of it, the more I realized that I rarely fought with anyone. I didn’t like fighting. I disagreed with people in my head a lot but rarely out loud.
— Chapter 20

“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Did you know those two words make up the most-told lie in the English language?”
— Chapter 32

Low blood sugar levels coinciding with a serious lack of sweet fluff? Well, I can’t provide you with chocolate, but I can certainly offer a cute recommendation for your literary craving. Value-added insights on life and relationships with possible allergens of seemingly ignorant brat-girl and possibly supersaturated teenage angst.
I’m opening the supposedly lighter summer read season with this at times not quite so light story. I admire how the author manages to integrate several current topics into this plot that at the surface appears to simply deal with a girl’s road to self-discovery. This is an elegant all-in-one pleasant read that might surprise the casual reader with as few unexpected insights. I personally wouldn’t have minded as last minute fill-in myself if the substitution eventually proved himself to be such an improvement to the initial situation.

Are you a “disagree in my head” person or a “loudly disagree” person? And how often do we question if the “I’m fine” reply is actually the truth or simply what we want to be true to get on with things? I’m curious about your thoughts and teasers; let’s have them in the comments.

Still, if you were going to lose either way, it’s better to lose without saying anything so it can’t be held against you later.
— Chapter 24

“Don’t you dare,” Theresa said as she put a handful of fries in her mouth. “It’s my story and mine to share if I want to, which I don’t.”
— Chapter 25

On the off chance that your definition of sway needs as much of a brushing up as mine did when I started reading this book: “Sway helps you make money and money helps make you sway. But sway is not money.” This is conveniently printed right on the first page. It is not quite related to or involving a swing set unless you want to get metaphorical in how on a swing the harder you push something away the stronger it comes back. Disclaimer: This will only work to a certain extend in real life but seems to be utterly successful in literary genres of a particular persuasion.
Nevertheless, this is a very interesting read in that it presents the point of view of the often coveted bad boy, who really is a bad boy in the sense that he commits all kinds of grey-verging-on-black-area misdemeanours. I had a hard time to find an angle to sympathise with him and I think I only succeeded to a certain degree. I still think that the girl is way too good for him and should run screaming in the other direction rather than try to rehabilitate him. He knows this and is in constant wonder of her goodness and possibly later of the fact that she probably likes him more than she should. This is what gives this story an aspect that you don’t see too often. Sure there is a variation of the “I’m not good for you, you should stay away” and the girl then boldly declaring that it doesn’t matter because the guy is inherently good, but here he actually tries to let her be (so some extend). I’m not making excuses for him, because he has made most of the choices for himself and in my opinion should dig himself out of them on his own.I suppose that it is okay for him to receive help as there are outer circumstances that influenced his behaviour. The network he built and dedication to his work are remarkable but not necessarily a good thing to aspire to though.

Can you tell me of a book from the point of view of the redemee rather than the redeemer where the rooting for the redemee is easier because s/he had no other choice rather than has taken the easier choice? Let’s hear from you in the comments!